Red Engine Press author and Vietnam Vet JB Redus traveled from his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, on Friday, May 27, 2022. JB and his wife Cherry and their daughter Rachel were about to launch JB’s book, “As Time Goes By: One Marine‘s Story,” at Bookish Bookstore at the Bakery. They were excited. JB was looking forward to meeting Joyce and John Faulkner, co-owners of Red Engine Pres….and to meet Sara Purman, owner of Bookish. Cherry and Rachel were excited too. They knew a secret.
As they were checking into their hotel before the book launch, JB spotted two smiling faces that he couldn’t quite place. This is the moment, JB met Skip Vimarco and James Quinn—fellow Vietnam Vets and old friends who’d traveled to Fort Smith, AR, from Chicago, IL, to celebrate JB’s new book. They had not seen each other since JB was airlifted from the battlefield to a hospital with a head injury—over fifty years ago.
L-R: OLD FRIENDS/Vietnam Marine Corps Vets—Skip Vimarco, Author JB Redus and James Quinn
JB with fellow author and Marine Corps Purple Heart Recipient, Eddie Beesley, at Bookish.
The next day, JB signed books at Chapters on Main in Van Buren and and he and his fellow vets enjoyed the Veteran’s Plaza a few yards away.
